Blog Article
What are the Void Volume Parameters?
August 8, 2022Fluid retention is a critical function of the surface texture in many applications. These surfaces may need to retain oil for lubrication, for example, or fluids may need to be
Scoring, scuffing, and galling
August 2, 2022So many wear mechanisms…so many definitions “Wear” is the progressive modification to a surface. It may result in a loss, deposit, or redistribution of material[1]. Quantifying different types of wear
Friction and Wear of Materials
July 25, 2022For those of you who have taken my class, you know that this is an important resource for me. Ernest Rabinowicz really pioneered our understanding of friction and wear, both
The “leaks and squeaks” images
July 18, 2022Over the years we’ve shown these images frequently on our website (which has just been updated, by the way!). Taken together, they sum up the kinds of issues we see—and
Bandpass and Notch Filters
July 11, 2022It’s a regular refrain on this blog: surface texture consists of a spectrum of spatial wavelengths, ranging from shorter spatial-wavelength roughness through longer spatial-wavelength waviness and form. Through the process
Celebrating Floyd Firestone
July 5, 2022Floyd Alburn Firestone was an acoustical physicist with wide-ranging talents, with important contributions in fields including acoustics, non-destructive testing, medicine, and surface texture. He is remembered as developing the first
Micro vs macro lead
June 28, 2022Rotary lip seals create a boundary around shafts in rotary equipment, typically to retain lubricant on one side versus air or gas on the other. On first consideration, it would
Ra changes when the cutoff changes
June 21, 2022The Roughness Average, or average roughness parameter, Ra, is the average of the surface heights of every point along the “roughness profile.” Its equivalent for areal (3D) measurements is the
The Surface Texture Answer Book
June 15, 2022I’ve been working with surface roughness for over 30 years…yet I am always looking for ways to expand my knowledge. This book has been in heavy rotation for me since
Can stylus and optical measurements correlate?
June 8, 2022Many companies use both stylus and optical measurement technologies to measure surface texture. A question that we are often asked is, “Can the measurements between these different systems correlate, and